Cover news reporter Zhang Jie Intern Jiang Ruiyao
There are countless famous paintings of great value. But to say which one Chinese the most familiar and can be blurted out, the Northern Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan's "Qingming on the River" should be among the best.
Now in the Palace Museum in Beijing, the "Map of the Upper River of the Qingming Dynasty", which is 24.8 centimeters wide and 528.7 centimeters long, draws a large number of characters of various colors in the form of a long scroll, such as cattle, mules, donkeys, cars, large and small boats, houses, bridges, and city towers (which supposedly include 684 figures, 122 houses, and 29 boats) that the "Qingming Upper River Map" has almost become an adjective to describe those works that depict the details and comprehensiveness of the landscape.
However, such a treasure that has been handed down to the world, inside and outside the painting, there are many puzzles that cannot be completely solved. For example, about Zhang Zeduan's life, it is a puzzle, the year of birth and death is unknown, we can only understand him through the only 85-word inscription on the scroll, which was written by Jin Ren Zhang at the back of the scroll.
In addition, there has been an inconclusive focus on what season the "Qingming Upper River Map" paints.
When seeing the name "Qingming Upper River Map", perhaps many people will think without thinking that since it is the "Qingming Upper River Map", the natural picture is the scene of the "Upper River" of the Beijing people during the Qingming Dynasty, but in fact, this point has always been controversial.
Some scholars have found that although the scene in the painting can be seen, there is a shop sign selling sacrifices of the "Wang Family Paper Horse" on the street above the Bian River, but it can also be seen that there are other scene details in the picture pointing to the spring where the Qingming Festival is located, but other seasons. From this, some scholars began to believe that the word "Qingming" in the "Qingming River Map" does not refer to time, but is an adjective that compares the clarity of political conditions. Some scholars believe that "Qingming" is a place name, and this view is Gao Musen's new interpretation of the title and meaning of the volume of "Qingming on the River": the so-called "Qingming" does not refer to time, but a place name - Qingmingfang. According to the "SongHui Draft", the inner and outer cities and suburbs of Beijing are divided into one hundred and thirty-six squares, and the suburbs in the east of the outer city are divided into three squares, the first of which is the Qingming Fang, that is, the East Water Gate area, which is the area drawn by the "Qingming Upper River Map".
Zhu Yong (Photo by Sun Jiani, courtesy of Zhu Yong)
Zhu Yong, a research librarian and writer who is the director of the Institute of Cultural Communication of the Palace Museum, pays special attention to such controversies and "contradictions". He discussed the capital in depth in the article "Zhang Zeduan's Spring Journey" in Zhu Yong's work "The Beauty of ancient paintings in the Forbidden City" and "The Contradiction and Unification of the Qingming Upper River Map" published in the full page of Guangming Daily (October 22, 2021, 13 edition).
In Zhu Yong's view, there is no exact conclusion as to what the meaning of "Qingming" in the name of the painting refers to, but as a typical Chinese painting, "Qingming On the River" is a hand-scrolled form that shows the four hours of spring, summer, autumn and winter (the ancients did not say "four seasons", only "four hours"), such as the "July" poem in the "Book of Poetry", "July flowing fire, September teaching clothes"... With the advancement of the seasons, the vicissitudes and prosperity of the world are arranged.
Point 1:
"Qingming" of "Qingming on the River Map"
It refers to the Qingming Festival
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Indeed, many scholars believe that the time in the picture shown in the "Qingming Upper River Map" is during the Qingming Dynasty. Art historians Such as Zheng Zhenduo, Xu Bangda, Zhang Anzhi, and Bo Songnian all advocated the theory of "spring scenery", that is, the scenes painted in this painting during the Qingming Festival, ancestor worship and stepping on the green survived, and believed that the "Qingming River Map" reflected the situation of the Kaifeng Qingming Festival in the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty in the early 12th century.
In 1958, after the "Song Zhang Zeduan Qingming Upper River Atlas" published by the Cultural Relics Publishing House, there was a long article from the modern literary historian Mr. Zheng Zhenduo, "A Study on the Qingming Upper River Map". In this article, Zheng Zhenduo made a comprehensive and concise analysis of this work from the specific depiction content of the picture, to the realistic creative style, to the social background of the painting. In 2020, this long article was published as a single book by Zhejiang People's Fine Arts Publishing House.
In this book, Zheng Zhenduo talked about the part "What scenes are painted in the "Qingming Upper River Map", and clearly pointed out that in the "Qingming Upper River Map", Zhang Zeduan of the Song Dynasty painted that "the season is the time of 'Qingming', that is, the third day of March in the spring, many trees are still bald branches and bare branches, and there are no leaves, only the thin strips of the willows have shallowly glowed with tender yellow, and the weather is still a little cool, but the harsh winter has passed." Spring brings moist weather, greener and greener every day, and apricot blossoms that are very early in the spring are blooming. ...... The palanquin is topped with willow flowers and draped in all directions. Since then, all three days have gone out of the city to go to the grave. "Our painter Zhang Zeduan chose this Qingming Festival, arranging his figures and scenery. Using the fine form of this tradition of Chinese painting in long scrolls, he gradually unfolded the depiction of the flourishing social life of the characters from the suburbs to the city.
Mr. Zhang Anzhi, a senior scholar of art history, also recognized the "Qingming Festival" in the book "Zhang Zeduan Qingming On the River Map", "The choice of activities on the day of the Qingming Festival is also very meaningful." This festival of youth has brought vigorous vitality and hope to the vast number of people; the Qingming "stepping on the green" is an ancient custom, which is to commemorate the ancestors or relatives to carry out an annual tomb sweep, so that women and children of feudal society who have been confined to small worlds for a long time can also get a chance to go on an outing. Middle- and lower-class industrialists and merchants and small citizens also call on friends to breathe in the countryside of willow green apricot red, spring water microwave, and grassy green. ”
Point 2:
Zhang Zeduan's "Qingming"
Allusion to "Political Clarity, World Peace"
But it soon became apparent that the seasonal orientation in the painting was inconsistent.
Ma Weidu's last final article in National Treasure 100: Volume IV (September 2021, Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House) is devoted to the analysis of the Qingming River Map. In the article, he specifically mentioned the contradiction in the meaning of "Qingming", "Some people think that the season it depicts is late summer and early autumn, because there is a donkey riding charcoal in the painting above, and the reason why there is a plot of donkey driving charcoal shows that people are ready to use charcoal for warmth, which indicates that it is almost cold and ready for winter; in addition, there are eggplants on the fence, and the eggplant in summer is tender and delicious, and it is a little old and not delicious in autumn; and then there are many people who take fans in the painting, generally only take fans in summer and autumn, and there are watermelons, straw hats, and bamboo sticks on them." Others were bare-armed and naked; the streets were full of restaurants, some with wine flags hanging on them, and some with signs that read 'New wine has arrived'. When did the sale of new wines begin in ancient times? Around the Mid-Autumn Festival. The grain harvest, the newly brewed rice wine arrived, and the sign also said 'mouth summer drink', which means that the weather is hot and dry, and I want to drink. Therefore, many details show that this painting is not about spring, but about summer and autumn, so the word 'Qingming' in the "Qingming River Map" is more puzzling. ”
In addition, some scholars have found that in the village in the painting, "between the vast fields and ridges, there is no grass wheat Qingqing, which is not in line with the situation that Beijing is a wheat-producing area of the Northern Song Dynasty. In the south of the Hongqiao Bridge, the towering cailou huan gate hangs a wine flag with an advertisement for "new wine". According to the "Tokyo Dream Record", it can be seen that the time when "all the shops sell new wine" is "before the Mid-Autumn Festival".
"Qingming" conspicuously contradicts it. Therefore, scholars began to speculate that this "Qingming" was not talking about festivals, but the state of the times, referring to the Taiping and prosperous times at that time. Politics is clear and prosperous. Song Zhang Zeduan spent ten years to complete this long volume, probably in the best period of development of the Northern Song Dynasty, Guotai Min'an.
Ma Weidu tended to agree with this statement, and in The National Treasure 100: Volume IV, Ma Weidu wrote: "Zhang Zeduan painted the joys and sorrows of the people during the Northern Song Dynasty, the rich and the poor, the leisure and the labor on a long scroll. Although people are very different from each other, they are all in a political harmony, so it is called "Qingming on the River Map". This expression is also an expression of a political form, and living and working in peace and contentment has been the common goal of thousands of years regardless of ethnicity, dynasty or country. ...... Thanks to the painter Zhang Zeduan, who took ten years to write about the beauty of the world, and said that political clarity, only political clarity can make the world peaceful. The world is at peace, and all things are peaceful. ”
But this view is also not solid. Zhu Yong mentioned that Yu Hui, an expert who has been painting at the Palace Museum for more than 30 years, has pointed out many times in his monographs on the volume of "Qingming Upper River Map" that there are many social crises hidden in the "Qingming Upper River Map" volume, so instead of singing praises and praises, the "Qingming Upper River Map" volume constitutes the "prosperous dangerous words" of that era. If the word "Qingming" is to be pulled in the direction of "political clarity," then what should be explained for the picture of a frightened and fleeing horse, a beggar on the street, a boat about to crash into a bridge, and a lazy soldier sitting at the gate of the official gate that implies a sense of distress?
Point 3:
"Qingming on the River Map" drawn
Not a certain season, but a year
Zhu Yong began to carefully observe the scenes in the "Qingming River Map" and found that there were not only spring and autumn scenes on the map, but also winter and summer scenes. "At the beginning of the scroll, between the dead trees and the cold willows, the five donkeys, riding the charcoal for the winter, as mentioned earlier, compared with the Tokyo Dream, know that it is October, in the lunar calendar, October, November, and December are winter; in the junction of urban and rural areas, there are five people marching in the cold wind, the hostess and the hostess ride on the donkey, wrapped in thick clothes, wearing a hood, and the rest of the people also curl their hands into their sleeves, looking afraid of the cold, this is undoubtedly a winter scene, at least the winter is coming, the day of spring and warm blossoms has not yet come (or autumn has passed). As the canvas unfolds, people's clothes become thinner and thinner, and on both sides of the road, rain shelters and umbrellas gradually increase; and when the countryside is far away and the rivers are stretched, people see the rapids of the water, especially under the Rainbow Bridge, the rapids are wrapped in a large boat, about to crash into the bridge, achieving the most tense and climactic passage in the whole painting. It was definitely not the scene of the river just thawing, but the scene of the summer rising season. Not to mention, there are more and more shirtless or bare-armed people wearing shorts on the screen, and outside the gate, there are even servants who take off their pants and sleep under a tree..."
How to explain the contradiction between the different seasonal styles of the same painting? Zhu Yong put forward one of his points: "The Volume of the Upper River of the Qingming Dynasty is a scroll containing the four hours of spring, summer, autumn and winter (the ancients did not say four seasons, only four hours). It is like the "July" poem in the Book of Poetry, "July is on fire, September is given clothes"... With the advancement of the seasons, the vicissitudes and prosperity of the world are arranged. ”
Why do different seasonal objects appear in a painting at the same time? Zhu Yong stressed that this is related to the special form of expression of Chinese painting, and thus extends the unique time and space consciousness of Chinese painters. The "horizontal scroll form", also known as the "hand scroll", became the mainstream form of Chinese painting in silk or paper painting during the Jin and Tang dynasties. This kind of horizontal scroll or hand scroll brings about a difference in the way Chinese view the painting: when a viewer looks at a hand scroll, he uses his left hand to display it, and at the same time uses his right hand to retract the scroll, so that the frame he can see is equivalent to the length between the hands (about one meter or so), unlike the current museum exhibition, the ancient painting is flattened and straightened, placed in the exhibition hall, so that everyone can easily watch. Because the hand scroll is unfolded in the hand section by section, the picture seen by the viewer is always only a part (which may be the reason why Zhang Zeduan particularly emphasizes the part), and the exposed part moves little by little with the release-closing action of his hands, just like the lens of the movie.
Here, Zhu Yong makes a bold speculation about the whole time painted in the "Qingming Upper River Map": "The dry wood and cold forest at the beginning of the volume depicts a desolate winter scene; from the procession returning to the city (the willow planting on the palanquin is the symbol of the Qingming Festival) to the wooden boat sailing smoothly in the Bian River, the willow is yiyi, the spring water is long, it is a picture before and after the Qingming Dynasty; from the rushing Hongqiao to the end of the painting, it is a noisy and lively summer day (of course, the season transition of the volume of the "Qingming Upper River Map" is gradual, and it is not appropriate to find an accurate landmark, in this way) And the long scroll came to an abrupt end near Zhao Taicheng's house, ending very abruptly, and I believe that the end of the volume of the Qingming Shanghe Tu was intercepted, and that the truncated part should be the autumn of the capital city. The Qingming River Map accommodates the seasonal changes in the capital city of Beijing, which can be a specific year or any year. If we connect the beginning of the "Qingming Upper River Map" with the (disappeared) tail, we will form a closed loop, like a complete circle of annual rings, so that the spring, summer, autumn and winter cycles of the capital city are endless. It was as if Zhang Zeduan had foreseen the disaster that followed, so in this way, this noisy and grand, prosperous and dazzling city could be eternal on silk. ”